South Carolina Voter ID Law Trial Underway

The federal trial over South Carolina's voter identification law began Monday. During testimony, state Sen. George "Chip" Campsen III cited examples of fraud that he took into consideration while drafting early versions of South Carolina's law. But under questioning from Justice Department attorney Anna Baldwin, Campsen said the examples he gave did not involve the type of fraud that requiring photo identification would address. The Justice Department rejected South Carolina's law, passed last year, which requires specific photo identification be shown in order to vote. The department decided the law violates Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters. South Carolina's voter photo ID law was subject to approval from the Justice Department because of its history of racial discrimination. WRCB has this AP story